The Election Commission’s (EC) announcement of Meghalaya Assembly poll on February 27 was welcomed by most political parties in the state, barring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.

The ruling alliance partners National People's Party (NPP), United Democratic Party (UDP) and the opposition Trinamool Congress and Congress welcomed the EC announcement and said they are ready for the poll battle.

Meghalaya BJP was, however, discountenanced at the long time span between the announcement of the date and the holding of the election and said it will give "ample opportunity to major parties to influence voters."

The EC Wednesday declared February 27 as the date of poll and March 2 for counting. The notification for the elections will be issued on January 31.

Also read: Meghalaya Election 2023 full schedule: Voting to be held on Feb 27, results on March 2

Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who is also the president of the NPP, the major party in the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), welcomed the announcement of the poll.

"We thank the EC for taking into account numerous factors while preparing for the election. We appeal to all parties and poll candidates to ensure that the election is violence-free and to maintain peace during the election," he told PTI.

When contacted, state BJP president Ernest Mawrie said, "We are upset that the election will be held almost a month and a half later. This will give ample opportunity to the ruling alliance parties to influence the voters … We worked hard for the past five years. Those who work in the last minute may also get the votes."

The BJP is prepared to contest the poll and so far candidates from over 40 seats have approached the party for tickets, he claimed.

BJP is a constituent of the MDA and has not entered into any pre-poll understanding with any political party.

"We are not in favour of any pre-poll alliance. We will contest on our own and we will comfortably win 10-15 seats," he said.

Jemino Mawthoh, general secretary of the UDP, welcomed the EC’s announcement and said, "It gives us ample opportunity to prepare ourselves up for the poll."

He said that all the five MLAs, including Public Health Engineering Minister Renikton Tongkhar, who quit the Assembly during the day, have joined the UDP.

"We are upbeat with the formal joining of the five MLAs today and we look forward to more leaders of different political parties to amalgamate with us in the days to come," he added.

Congress too welcomed the announcement of the poll date, as did Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress which has emerged as the main opposition party of the northeastern state.

“We are prepared to fight the electoral battle and are confident of winning the maximum number of seats,” Congress state president Vincent H Pala told PTI.

Asked to comment on the desertion by Congress MLAs in favour of TMC, NPP and UDP, he said, “The leaders may have left the party, but the people have not. They (voters) are not fooled, we (Congress) will come back stronger.”

Also read: Meghalaya Assembly Elections: List of Congress, UDP, TMC, NPP candidates

Pala is contesting the Assembly poll from Sutnga Saipung constituency in the eastern Jaintia Hills region. He will take on Shitang Pale, a former colleague in Congress. Pale had joined the TMC but resigned from it during the day and will contest on a UDP ticket.

TMC state president Charles Pyngrope welcoming the announcement of the poll date said, "It comes with great timing. We expect to do a lot of things as preparation in the next one month for the election."

"Everything is positive for us wherever we go, we are hoping to do well,” he said.

MDA partners the Hill State People's Democratic Party and the People's Democratic Front could not be contacted for their views despite repeated efforts.

In the present house, the ruling NPP at has 20 MLAS, UDP eight, PDF two, BJP two, NCP one, TMC eight and an independent lawmaker. Five lawmakers, including the state PHE minister quit hours before the announcement of the poll date.

(Edited by : Ayushi Agarwal)